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Friday, August 3, 2012

When Pune had a blast.

Terrorists unlike ordinary mortals work silently and when they do perform – they make it to the front pages of national dailies with a bang. In India, they have a weakness for Wednesdays – a seemingly innocuous day of the week, which is neither much-hated as Mondays nor worshipped like Fridays.

It was again a Wednesday when Pune’s busy Junglee Maharaja Road was rocked by a series of bomb blasts. News channels spent precious hours speculating on facts that didn’t exist, the camera flashing the same images in a loop convinced that the viewers were loving it. Everyone from the waiter at MacDonalds to the bhaaji vendor was approached for opinions informed.

Since the blasts were low intensity, the police claimed it was an act of mischief and not a terror attack. I suspect naughty North Indians. Two days of sweating without electricity and look where they landed, planting bombs on unsuspecting cycles and smelly garbage cans.

As panic and fear gripped the city, Pune’s Chief Commissioner tried to calm frayed nerves by declaring – “No need to panic, the blasts were low intensity”. Unfortunately, people were too busy screaming to pay any heed to him.

Conclusion – ask before you scream. Bhaiya – was it terror or mischief?

Twitterati did its bit and asked Puneites to stay safe. Those who were un-frightened enough to check for twitter updates, made sure they did not rush headlong into the nearest garbage bins.

No one died but two individuals were stupid enough to get injured. A certain Mr Dayanand Patil picked up a plastic bag at the venue of an ongoing protest by Team Anna, when a bomb inside it went off in his hand. Since he was unfortunate enough to survive the attack, the police took him in custody for interrogation. Mr Patil now more famous as “the injured” man, will enjoy a few more days of police hospitality after it was discovered he had travelled to Jordan in 2003-04, despite his poor finances.

As expected, the CCTV’s that had been installed to monitor terror activities, were not working. Pune Municipal Corporation was waiting for a few more attacks before finalizing payments to the contractor responsible for its maintenance. Quoting the great RR Patil, the erstwhile Home Minister of Maharashtra - Bade bade shahron maine aisi chhotee chhotee batein hotee rehti hai.

It is now learnt that faulty design and poor quality of ammonium nitrate reduced the intensity of the blasts. Cash strapped terrorists with no regard for quality can now be safely blamed for creating mischief and forcing the police to make statements that make no sense.

Sushil Kumar Shinde, India’s self-confessed excellent Minister for Power, who was rewarded Home for plunging half the country in darkness, has yet to make up his mind whether the bomb blasts were part of the celebration to welcome him or just boring terror attacks. I don’t know what type of attack it is...It does not seem that it’s a terror attack, so how can I say it’s one? I don’t have any update on the probe and have no immediate plans to go to Pune. People who can’t kill or maim, have no right to be called terrorists! The only thing Shinde has conceded to is, that the attacks were spontaneous and expressed his disappointment at the lack of spontaneity.

Our elected representatives were quick to condemn the attacks and admitted to lack of specific intelligence. It is unreasonable to expect our intelligence agencies to act until they get specific inputs. Something like - Dear clueless government, the bombs will be wrapped in brown paper and will go off at 7 PM at Bhendi Bazar. Now that’s what I call specific!

The aam-admi wondered what if it’s him the next time! He let out an involuntary shudder as he imagined his body being torn apart by shrapnels from a crude bomb assembled by a disgruntled citizen, brainwashed into believing that killing is the only way to azaadi.

The killer and the killed both victims of a system that is deaf, blind and dumb to the cries of its citizens.

But life has to go on. Who has the time to mope, when there’s a new bombshell in town dying to bare her Jism on 70 mm screen?

I fully agree to what you said - The killer and the killed both victims of a system that is deaf, blind and dumb to the cries of its citizens. How I wish something could be done to kick such system into action!

Well well well...what scares me more is the Jism bombshell than the Pune blasts;) Of course, Pune blasts were welcome shots for Shinde Sahib. Soon he is gonna shut off the entire Home Ministry in darkness:P

Purba, good post--and this line "The killer and the killed both victims of a system that is deaf, blind and dumb to the cries of its citizens" is a terrifying statement on the state of India...your piece was not as much a satire in its style as it tended to be almost an editorial on the issue...

These days bomb attacks are just like recession...keep happening at regular intervals. Such apathetic attitude is what makes us more scared than ever and added to that the hysterical drama played out on television news channels. Jaye to jaye kahana :(

Government and law enforcement has started this new tactic called wait and wear. They do nothing even when terrorists strike left and right, wearing out the patience of militants till they decide to stop terrorism altogether.

A little different from your other posts. I feel the same dismay. Have we become so immune to this growing violence around us? Is life that cheap for us common Indians? I am tired of the media circus, the sad depiction of rape, murders, blasts in media, the inane questions, and the mind blocking out the images and voices of crazy politicians and anchors mouthing stupidities like "the spirit will conquer" and some such!

I have a doubt. Is this the way de-sensitization happens? I mean humor is good and laughing is good .. but what are we laughing at? I need to reflect a bit .. because I know it could become scary on any other day!!

I saw a discussion on a news channel where this guy was trying to defend the "mischief" stand. Everyone pounced on him and after a while he was not so sure himself. What really blows me over is that how could they take it lightly because it was a low intensity bomb? It was a B.O.M.B.

It is only by God's grace that attacks aren't happening left, right and centre in out country. I won't even begin to comment on the congress et al. Security in public places is such a joke.... disinterested personnel peep for a couple of seconds into your bag and let you pass.

When will we read a newspaper without a news of killings, blasts, rapes, murders, robberies Purba? We, the citizens, get so involved withour chores that we even forget that anything serious happened. You are right, we will wake only when we are one among the dead.

You have brought out the apathy, indifference and inefficiency of our system that is so blatantly visible every single time such a terrible thing happen. And I share your angst and anger. What is more appalling is that we are getting used to these blasts and acts of terror. That is evident from these shocking and extremely careless reactions from police and politicians. It pains me when I think that the only thing that can be done in this country to prevent terrorism is to pray!

I heard something different about the 'injured man'. News was that somebody had put the 'Stuff' inside his bag and left for the picking. The unfortunate man was merely unfortunate or so.Nevertheless, the caucus caused by this incident is about to die already.

The system and our apathy has always enraged many of us, me included. Today do we have a choice? Even if we do exercise our voting rights, do we have a decent set of alternatives to govern us? Team Anna seemed to give some hope, but even they seem to be getting entangled with their feet, mouths and alliances...Very sharp writing Purba, always enjoy your way ith the words.